


Precious

by mochasweets



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Baby Zayn, Car Accidents, Childhood Trauma, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Single Parent Liam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 00:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6099229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochasweets/pseuds/mochasweets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Zayn already has a tattoo on his forearm. Liam’s pretty sure it won’t be long until he moves out to go to uni and starts the life of his own. Leaving his father and all his childhood behind. He’s fine with it, though. As long as Zayn’s happy—to be honest, seriously, for the past seventeen years, that’s what Liam’s life is all about.<i></i></i><br/><br/>In another universe, Zayn and Liam share the same blood. And Liam thinks his son is the best thing that ever happened to him.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Precious

**Author's Note:**

> english is not my first language. all mistakes are mine.

Liam thinks now is a perfect time to check through his old stuff in his very old laptop. The new one will arrive this afternoon by estimation, and by then he would have 3 laptops in his hands. That’s why he thinks it would be nice to move his stuff from the first laptop to the second. It seems that the second has a lot more capacities than the very old one. Besides, he likes to keep his stuff organized.

Contradict to that organized part of him, he’s not that kind of person who likes to put his things in order _virtually_ —hence hundreds of empty folders scattered around—but Zayn was borrowing that first laptop yesterday and saw Liam’s video from his old days in uni. In the video, Liam was in a process of hanging a black flag with a bold outlined dick drawn on it (with an X behind, similar to pirates symbol), and as the flag moving up—also being waved by the wind—he could hear Louis and some of his mates laughing behind the camera. Zayn wouldn’t stop asking why he did that, why Uncle Louis was laughing, and who’s that girl that had Liam ducking his head when she walked closer.

Liam was a little bit bothered by it, but at the same time relieved that it was not one of his porn collections.

As Liam drags and drops his files one by one, he comes across a folder which titled ‘ **precious** ’. He tried to remember the contents, but he can’t even recall the time he made the folder in the first place. One way to find out…

He clicks it open.

There’s a few seconds until the thumbnails load. And he nearly splits his face into two due to him smiling as his eyes scan the files in it.

It’s Zayn’s folder, basically. Or rather, _Liam’s_ folder of Zayn. There are Zayn’s baby pictures; the ones he took himself, and some of them are Vashti’s—which he got from her aunt in prints and polaroids which later he scanned.

Zayn was barely nine months old when the car crash happened. He was a very little baby even then, compared to most babies his age. The accident left him traumatized of car ride. Zayn always screamed even before Liam could get his hand on the vehicle’s door. Liam bet his own ass that he’d turn mad if it wasn’t for his parents and sisters who were always there for him. He talked to them through the phone on daily basis, Karen even made sure to visit him at least once every two weeks to help him and the nanny. For two years, Liam went to visit his parents’ house via train, with Zayn bundled up in his arms.

One of the video thumbnails has infant-Zayn’s face filling up a half of the icon, while another half was filled up by Liam’s. It looks like they’re gonna have a selfie together.

Liam clicks it to play.

_“Good morning, everybody.” Liam’s voice could be heard from the audio while the scene showing a very cuddly little Zayn in a navy-blue onesie, a little yellow duckling was stitched on its left chest. He was kicking his legs excitedly, and threw a few unintelligible babbling._

_“Zaynie just having his morning bath today. And you like it so much, don’t you, baby? Hmm?” Liam rotated the camera in his hand and now he’s lying down beside Zayn, his head right next to his son’s._

_Zayn squealed, he made a grabby gesture towards Liam’s face, which then made Liam chuckled. “Alright, give me a kiss.” Liam offered his cheek, and Zayn put his opened mouth there. “Oh, you want to eat my face!” Liam sounded amused._

_Liam then leaned to his side and faced Zayn. His eyes were shaped like crescent moons as he looked at his son. “But it means you love me right?” he said, to which Zayn responded with another train of babblings._

_“Hahaha of course you do. ‘Cause… Guess what, baby?” Zayn watched him attentively, “I love you even more.” Liam then put a kiss on his son’s forehead._

_To Liam’s surprise, Zayn tried to play along by shutting his eyes as his head touched Liam’s. He smiled as he pretended to sleep. “Hey, hey, don’t you sleep on me, little man!” Liam said with faux panic, but Zayn immediately opened his eyes and hit Liam’s face with his opened tiny hands as if to say_ you’ve disturbed my stolen nap, daddy!

_Liam faked a really low scream, “Aaaaah, please don’t pull my eyes out!” which made Zayn retreated his hands and giggled. “You’re. A. Menace!” Liam whisper-shouted, opening his mouth wide as if he tried to eat Zayn’s little face this time. Talk about revenge._

_Only Zayn didn’t get that. He still laughed at his father’s antic instead. Liam followed right after that, while looking fondly at his baby. “I love it when you laugh,” he cooed._

_Liam seemed to rotate the camera back to Zayn’s face only. “Yes, you, my sweet little baby boy.” Liam’s hand made an appearance to the screen there, pinching Zayn’s cheek lightly. Zayn swatted the fingers while talking with his own words._

_“I love you so much, baby… Even when you scream because you don’t want to hop into a car ride—which actually makes life a lot easier if you do. Or when you wake me up every midnight because you’re just a little baby and growing up and of course you will need your milk at 3 in the morning, huh? Or when you peed on me because you’re kind of a snob who likes to point out my mistake of forgetting your nappy.” Zayn looked at Liam—who was behind the camera—seriously, and sometimes smiled wide through Liam’s little speech there._

_“Yeah, and despite all of that, Daddy loves you so much, Zee. And I will not give up on you, okay? Daddy will always fighting for you, baby.” With that, Liam kissed Zayn’s temple once again._

Right after Zayn kissed his cheek in the video, the screen turned black. Liam surprises himself when he hears sniffles coming through his nose as he closes the window. How could he forget about this footage? This thing was literally the one who encouraged him to keep moving during the darkest time. Even if he didn’t know what’s waiting in front of him, the look on his baby’s face in the video always pushed him forward and forced him to take the first step anyway.

Zayn wasn’t always about all that laugh and squeals like Liam’s colleagues used to see that time. He wasn’t really a quiet baby. Zayn could be quite fussy and he got sick easily. Liam realized, though, that he couldn’t really blame them. They’re not there when Zayn kept crying all night because his tooth was about to come out, they’re not there when Zayn vomited all over Liam’s bed sheet, or when the boy screamed at the top of his lungs every time Liam tried to get him acquainted with cars after the accident.

And of course, the worst nightmare, when Zayn turned very quiet; he got a high fever, his body’s turned so weak that he couldn’t even make an effort to roll over.

Liam didn’t want to remember it. It was cruel, it was brutal, it played with his sanity.

After he closes the window, it turns out that he’s got a numerous amount of video in that folder. Take a glance at the time on the taskbar, Liam knows he can’t watch all of it this afternoon. So he clicks the one with interesting thumbnail, like, Zayn’s _literally_ colorful face.

The video starts with voices of people chatting and it looks like someone’s throwing a party if the décor (helium balloon, various paper ribbons, and scattered confetti) in the room said something. There are muffled sounds of children laughing, and the screen shows a hall of someone’s home which led to a backyard where the noise getting louder.

_Zayn jumped right into the scene. In the background, there were children running around with party hat on their heads. Zayn didn’t wear one. His face resembled a cat with drawn whiskers and nose. His face, though, was covered by orange paint which leaned more to light brown. He roared, with his hands gesturing something close to claws._

_Then there’s a sound like Liam’s scream, and for a while, the camera shook. “You scare me!” Liam shouted in the middle of the noise. And then, "Who are you?”_

_Zayn giggled, his nose scrunched up as his eyes turned into crescents before returned to their full hazel again. “I’m Clawy!” What an original name. “I’m a cat! A very dangerous cat!” he exclaimed proudly to the camera._

_“Wow! I’m really scared, right now,” Liam said. “Sorry. But, umm, do you know where Zayn is? I’ve been searching for him all day, but I can’t find him.”_

_“Who’s Zayn?!” Zayn asked Liam as if he really had no idea._

_“He’s my son!” Liam replied, sounded like he was genuinely offended that ‘the cat’ never heard of his son. “He’s missing! And I don’t want you to hurt him! You said you're very dangerous!”_

_Zayn looked pleased with Liam’s answer, and he managed to stay in Clawy’s character. “Hmm that boy,” Zayn faked a thoughtful expression, playing with his nonexistent whiskers. “I’ll let you meet him!” he shouted later, arms folded in front of his chest._

_Liam sighed louder than necessary, “Oh! Thank God!”_

_Not so fast. “Only with one condition!” Zayn interrupted later._

_Liam groaned. “Seriously? I can’t just bake you a batch of chocolate cookies, can I?”_

_Zayn shook his head adamantly. “I hate cookies!”_

_“Oh,” Liam responded from behind the camera, “really?”_

_“Not really,” Zayn laughed. “But I want you to follow me!”_

_Apparently, there’s a little crowd in the corner where the sandbox lied. Zayn walked there, pulling Liam by the hand. The camera’s still recording. And as they reached their ‘destination’, Zayn shouted, “Guys! I found someone who can help us!”_

_“Zayn, that’s your Dad. What is he doing here?” one of the kid in the crowd said, hands and the front of his shirt covered in sands._

_“Shush, Danny!” Zayn yelled, and then in quieter voice, “You call me Clawy, and he’s not my Dad!”_

Liam tried very hard not to laugh. Zayn thought he’s smooth. He remembered this. It was a long day of his colleague’s daughter’s birthday. Zayn and his new friends were playing knights and dragon. Basically, the knights needed a castle where they could run to if they met a dragon in the middle of their quest. Unfortunately, none of them ever built a sandcastle, and Zayn probably got fed up because his friends were arguing with each other instead.

_The camera then was put on a picnic table nearby and Liam helped them build the castle. They also built a long wall, which supposed to be the gate, lining up one side of the sandbox as a defense._

_Before Liam became aware of it, he was the dragon and the kids were batting their stereofoam swords at him._

The video was unedited, and the battle was pretty long. He is not going to watch himself getting mauled by a herd of little kids, so he skips the some parts until he gets to the end.

_After the kids laying down on the grass and pretended to be dead, Zayn—who suspiciously disappeared during the battle—ran into Liam, hugging his Dad from behind. Liam gasped and turned only his head around, “Zayn?” he asked, looking down, “Is that you, baby?”_

_Zayn sounded like he held his laughter. He kept hiding his face to Liam’s backside._

_When it seemed like Zayn wouldn’t reply, Liam peeled his little hands off of him and fully turned around. “Is that you, Zaynie? The one whom I fight the knights for?”_ (he actually still can’t get why he’s got to be the dragon)

_Zayn pulled away and laughed as he replied, “Daddy! You save me!”_

_“Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I?” Liam smiled wide. He picked Zayn up and bouncing him on his arms. “You’re my prince!” Liam declared._

_Zayn's laughter instantly bursted out as he felt Liam tickling on his side._

_"Say mercy!" because Liam still couldn't accept the fact that he's got left out by his son to be the dragon. "Why did you leave me alone, Zee? Huh? Say mercy!"_

_"No!"_

_"What?"_

_"NO!" Zayn shrieked, wriggling to get out of his father's hold._

_"Oh, Zaynie, you say mercy or--"_

_"I love you, Daddy! I love you!" the boy shouted._

_Liam grinned-- this boy with his negotiation skill. With a huff, Liam stopped his movement and held his son closer instead. He nuzzled Zayn's nose with his own, peppering kisses to his small face as the little boy giggled. Then_ _Liam whispered in his ear, “I love you much more, lil' apple.”_  

Liam once again feels his cheeks wet. He’s suddenly missing his son so much. It’s been years since the last time he’s hugged his son. He chuckles as he sniffs, “Ah. Why would I do without you, Zaynie?”

Finding an empty CD under the coffee table, Liam then burns all of it to the disk. A back-up storage, just in case. A few minutes later, his new laptop arrives. After he’s done doing the business (file transfer never takes this long), he went to take a shower.

By the time he steps out of his bathroom, he can hear Zayn calling for him. He immediately gets dressed and rushes downstairs.

When he sees Zayn in the kitchen, sitting on kitchen counter drinking his apple juice, Liam can’t help but lean on the entryway, folding his arms in front of his chest, and taking in the sight.

Zayn nearly chokes when he notices Liam’s presence. “Dad! You’re scaring me!” he put a hand on his left chest, letting out a breath.

“How’s school?” Liam asks from his position.

“Same old, same old,” Zayn shrugs, putting his glass aside. “But I’m joining this filmmaker community, yeah? And we did the first project today. Looks like I’ll be needing a new harddisk soon. Because I can barely save a clip in this old fellow,” he points to his laptop bag which is lying on the island in the center of the room.

Liam nods as he walks to where Zayn’s sitting. “We’ll see,” he replies, “but now, give me a hug.” Liam opens his arms wide as he gets closer to the boy.

Zayn snorts but wraps his arms around his Dad’s neck anyway.

Liam hums, holding on to his son tightly, swaying left and right very slightly. “I miss you so much, Apple. Couldn’t remember the last time we share a hug.”

Zayn laughs at that. “You’re kidding!”

“Why?” Liam pulls away a little so he can glare at his young son.

“Dad, you’re the one who make me think there’s probably an unspoken rule by now,” Zayn responds with little chuckle. “You hug me, like, twice a day. It’s definitely a routine.”

Well. That’s true. But he’s Liam James Payne, and he’s been known as ‘Zayn’s clingy father’—since Zayn was four years old—for a reason.

(It was the time Zayn had to start his pre-school. Liam still remembers how the moms and the teachers there threw him a look as he’s facing an apparent difficulty of letting Zayn go.)

But because of the videos, now he gets even more emotional. He can’t believe he’s in the point he is right now. Time really flies, doesn’t it?

Zayn already has a tattoo on his forearm. Liam’s pretty sure it won’t be long until he moves out to go to uni and starts the life of his own. Leaving his father and all his childhood behind. He’s fine with it, though. As long as Zayn’s happy—to be honest, seriously, for the past seventeen years, that’s what Liam’s life is all about.

“Dad, you’re crying,” Zayn says, pulling Liam back from his reverie. He gently wipes the tears from his father’s face with his thumbs. “Are you alright?” Zayn’s voice suddenly quivers, “Did I do something wrong?”

Liam shakes his head and whispers, “No.” His hands still loosely wrapped around Zayn’s waist. “But do you know?”

“What?” Zayn rasps.

“I love you so much, Zee.”

Now it’s Zayn’s turn to cry. He buries his face to the crook of Liam’s neck. His voice’s muffled when he says, “And I love you much _much_ more.”

Liam smiles, knowing that couldn’t be true.

**Author's Note:**

> i just need more baby zayn. ehehehe. thanks for reading! :)


End file.
